Inaugural planning

NOTES AND COMMENTS

September 26, 1999

A MODEST proposal for the next mayor of Baltimore: Forget the Glendening example of a lavish party to celebrate your inauguration. Instead, form a citizens' committee that seeks donations, large and small, for a gun-buyback program to be outlined in the inaugural speech.

What a start to your administration this would be, signaling your commitment to the cause of a safer Baltimore and a departure from the more noxious aspects of big-money politics!

What better way for a new mayor to remind violence-weary Baltimoreans that guns that are legally acquired can -- and often do -- end up in the wrong hands, that the weapons they keep on a closet shelf or buried in a drawer are potentially a danger to themselves and their loved ones.